1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for raising toilet seats, and more particularly, to an economical, and easily-installed apparatus for raising commercial toilet seats in public and/or semi-public restrooms.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Commercial toilets generally include a floor-mounted, or wall-mounted, toilet bowl, along with a toilet seat hinged to the rear of the bowl. The toilet seat can assume a lowered position resting against the upper rim of the bowl, or a raised position extending upwardly away from the bowl. Women, for the most part, leave the toilet seat in its lowered position at all times, whether they are using the toilet to urinate or defecate. Men, however, generally lift the toilet seat to its raised position when urinating, while lowering the toilet seat during defecation. Often, men are forgetful, or just plain lazy, and leave the toilet seat in its lowered position while urinating, hoping to avoid contact between the urine stream and the seat. Young boys likewise do not bother to raise the seat before urinating, and do not exercise particular care to avoid wetting the seat.
Many commercial toilet seats have an open front portion; in that case, the toilet seat is somewhat U-shaped, rather than extending fully around the toilet bowl rim, leaving the front portion of the upper rim of the bowl exposed. While this design tends to reduce the frequency with which toilet seats become soiled with urine, “wet” toilet seats are a common sight in public restrooms. While those men who neglect to raise the seat may have the best of intentions, accidents happen—apparently often.
Many people believe that they can contract dangerous diseases by sitting on soiled toilet seats. Others simply abhor the thought of sitting on a toilet seat which has been contacted by urine. Accordingly, it is common for owners of public restrooms to provide disposable toilet seat covers for patrons to apply over the toilet seat. While some users appreciate such courtesy, the fact remains that it can be a challenge to position such disposable seat covers properly on the toilet seat and have it remain in place long enough to get seated. In addition, disposable seat covers pose an extra operating expense, both to purchase such items and their dispensers, and to pay maintenance personnel to check and re-stock such dispensers. Still others provide bleach-saturated wipes to sanitize the toilet seat between uses. In that case, the seat must typically be dried afterward, perhaps with a paper towel or some toilet paper.
In most situations, “wet” toilet seats are inconveniences posed by men to other men. However, there are situations in which men and women share the same toilet facilities, as is often true in the case of small businesses. In those cases, women often resent the need to share a bathroom with men who fail to raise the toilet seat before urinating.
Others have disclosed a variety of toilet seat lifting devices for automatically lifting a toilet seat to its raised position. U.S. Pat. No. 1,529,656 to Kornhauser discloses an adjustable spring attachment for raising a toilet seat wherein a spring is coiled about a tubular member. One end of the spring is retained in an adjustable collar, while the other end of the spring extends beneath the toilet seat. The aforementioned tubular member is bolted to a bar adjacent to the hinge supports that pivotally support the toilet seat. The adjustable collar may be used to adjust the tension of the spring to correspond to the weight of the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,681,277 to Booth discloses a spring hinge for urging a toilet seat toward a raised position. A tubular pintel extends fully through the hinged portion of the toilet seat, and a helical torsion spring extends around the pintel. An outer casing portion of the toilet seat extends fully around the pintel and the torsion spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,352,133 to Sperzel, et al. also discloses a helical torsion spring for biasing a toilet seat toward a raised position. A hinge rod extends fully across the pivoting portion of the toilet seat. A torsion spring surrounds the hinge rod and extends for most of its length. One end of the torsion spring engages a fixed block secured to a hinge bracket. The opposite end of the torsion spring is connected to an apertured disk fixed to the hinge rod. The tension of the spring is adjusted by selecting one of several apertures in which to engage the end of the torsion spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,522 to Wilson discloses a toilet seat lifter including a pair of torsion springs and a tension plate. After removing a hinge from the bottom of the toilet seat, a pair of torsion springs are slid over an elongated toilet seat hinge pin. The tension plate is secured to the toilet bowl below the hinge pin by slots that fit around the bolts that secure the hinges to the toilet bowl.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,911 to Enlow discloses another form of self-raising toilet seat using a hinge pin of non-circular cross-section for engaging an associated non-circular sleeve provided in the rear portion of the toilet seat. Spring-biased hinge blocks bolt to opposing sides of the toilet bowl and rotatably support the hinge pin. The torsion springs engage the ends of the hinge pin and bias the hinge pin in the rotational direction that raises the toilet seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,242 to Rapp discloses a toilet seat spring hinge for pivotally attaching a toilet seat to the toilet bowl and for biasing the toilet seat toward its raised position. The disclosed spring hinge has a series of holes formed in one of its hinge plates for receiving screws that secure such hinge plate to the bottom of the toilet seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,890 to Fisher discloses a spring hinge assembly for toilet seats that bears some similarities to that of the present invention. Fisher's spring hinge assembly includes a body portion having a mounting bolt extending downwardly from the body portion for passing through a mounting hole of the toilet bowl. Fisher's spring hinge assembly further includes a hinge pin secured to the body portion, and which extends laterally from a side wall of the body portion for insertion into the rear portion of the toilet seat. Fisher's spring hinge assembly further includes a helical torsion spring, one end of which contacts the underside of the toilet seat. The opposing end of Fisher's torsion spring, and indeed the majority of the torsion spring itself, is recessed within a notch formed within the side wall of the body portion; the torsion spring surrounds the aforementioned hinge pin.
Fisher's spring hinge assembly poses several disadvantages. First, Fisher's torsion spring must be of relatively small diameter, both because it is supported in part by the toilet seat hinge pin (which passes through the helically-wound portion of such torsion spring), and because such torsion spring must fit within the recess cut into the sidewall of the mounting body. Secondly, an odd-shaped recessed notch must be formed in the side wall of the body portion to receive the torsion spring; the requirement for such odd-shaped recess complicates manufacture, whether a machining process or a molding process is used. Finally, if it is desired to use a pair of such spring hinges (i.e., left-side and right-side) to raise the toilet seat, then separate left- and right-handed body portions must be fabricated. In this regard, Fisher notes, in column 3 of his specification, that “ . . . the spring hinges must include a left oriented one used in conjunction with a right oriented one.”
U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,518 to Uhl discloses another form of toilet seat lifter, including a pair of torsion springs placed on opposing ends of a toilet seat pivot axle, and wherein a commode lid 17 is also included.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,532 to Morant discloses an apparatus for lifting a commode seat, including a helical spring and a mechanism for adjusting the rate at which the seat rises.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,180 to Williams discloses a toilet seat lifting device using a pair of leaf springs to raise the seat to an elevated position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,335 to Miller discloses a toilet seat lifting apparatus formed of elastomeric material that deforms when the seat is forced downward, and which straightens back to its original position when the seat is released.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0192949, published Aug. 23, 2007, to Pan, et al., discloses a self-lifting toilet seat including a hydraulic actuator for adjusting the rate at which the toilet seat is raised by a pair of torsion springs.
The foregoing devices all suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, some of the aforementioned lifting devices require substantial modification and/or reconstruction of the toilet bowl and/or toilet seat. Others of such devices are relatively bulky, or include components that project from the toilet, posing safety hazards, or inviting tampering by users. Some of the aforementioned lifting devices are complex and relatively expensive. In the case of the spring hinge assembly disclosed in the aforementioned patent to Fisher, the molding of the required bores, tapping of threads, and formation of recesses into the body portion of such assembly is relatively costly.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a toilet seat lifter for raising commercial toilet seats in public and/or semi-public restrooms.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a toilet seat lifter that is compatible with popular commercial toilet bowls and toilet seats to avoid the need for significant modification thereof.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a toilet seat lifter that can quickly and easily be installed on most toilets already present in existing public restrooms.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a toilet seat lifter which is compact and relatively immune from tampering by users.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a toilet seat lifter that is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.